Principal and Vice-Chancellor of University of the West of Scotland. Professor Mahoney has had a distinguished career in academia and sport. He has published widely in the areas of children’s fitness, health, sport, exercise, performance and education. Before joining the Academy he was Deputy Vice-Chancellor at Northumbria University where he was responsible for all learning and teaching activity, including Quality and Standards, Curriculum Development, Library and Learning Services, Academic Registry, Student Services, a Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning [CETL – Assessment for Learning] and JISC InfoNet. Prior to his appointment at Northumbria he was the founding Dean of the School of Sport, Performing Arts and Leisure at Wolverhampton University.
Professor Mahoney is a Chartered Psychologist and a past Chair of the British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences (BASES). He has served as a reviewer for the Quality Assurance Agency in England and since 1995 has been on numerous committees and validation panels in UK Higher Education. In 2008 he was part of a panel to produce a new quality benchmark for Hospitality, Leisure, Sport and Tourism. He has held a variety of external examination engagements [at subject, programme and PhD level] to confirm standards and oversee the assurance of quality in UK Higher Education.
Professor Mahoney has a strong interest in differentiated learning, including recognition of learning styles as part of a student-centred individualised learning environment. Committed to education, he is an advocate of e-Learning and the use of technology to create positive learning environments. He has been an outspoken advocate of Internationalisation including globalisation, professional development, staff and student exchange and international partnership development in research and enterprise. He has made strong commitments to Erasmus, Study Abroad programmes and other exchange arrangements for students including the recent Government sponsored China summer school scheme.
